John's writing begins with a new point in chapter eight. This new point is that the all-inclusive Christ who is everything to us is our Shepherd. He is not just everything to us; He is also taking care of us. His caring for us is of two aspects: the aspect of shepherding by the Shepherd and the aspect of comforting by the Comforter. These two aspects of Christ's taking care of us are of two stages. The shepherding is in His stage in the flesh. The second aspect of comforting is in the second stage of Christ as the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ.

In John 14 the Lord told us that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him (v. 10). They are coinhering. Then He said, "I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter" (v. 16). This indicates that He was the first Comforter. The first Comforter was not called the Comforter, but the Shepherd. The Shepherd supplies the necessities of the flock, but we need something more intrinsic, more organic, and more tender. We need an inward, organic comforting—shepherding as in 1 Peter 2:25, which says that He is the Shepherd of our souls. This is the inward shepherding of the processed and consummated Triune God united, mingled, and incorporated with His regenerated and transformed elect.

In John 14 there are four ins showing this incorporation. Verse 17 says that the Spirit of reality as the Comforter will be in us. Then verse 20 reveals that the Son is in the Father, the believers are in the Son, and the Son is in the believers. These four ins show how intrinsic and organic our relationship with the processed Triune God is. Many Christians are not clear about this intrinsic, organic relationship between the processed Triune God and the transformed believers. Today is not the stage of Christ in the flesh. This is the stage of Christ as the Spirit, the pneumatic Christ. If He were still in the flesh, He could never be in us and we could never be in Him. For Him to be in us and for us to be in Him, He must be pneumatic; He must be the Spirit. We must see this great vision.

This union, mingling, and incorporation issue in three great things: the Father's house, the vine tree, and the new child. The first issue is the house of the Father in John 14. "In My Father's house are many abodes" (v. 2). Verse 23 says that the Son and the Father will come to His lover, who is indwelt by the Spirit, and make a mutual abode with him. This is the building. The second issue in John 15 is the organism of the Father, the great vine tree, which is Christ Himself (v. 1). We are His branches, His members, to bear fruit to express the Father (vv. 5, 8). The third issue in John 16 is the new child, who is the new man, brought forth by the travailing woman (vv. 21-22). The new man was created by Christ on the cross in Himself as the element (Eph. 2:15) and was born, brought forth, in resurrection to be a new babe. These three—the Father's house, the universal vine, and the new child to consummate the new man—refer to the church as the Body of Christ that consummates in the New Jerusalem for Him to take the base to be the heavenly ladder, not in divinity, but in humanity as the Son of Man.

He is the Son of Man at the right hand of God in ascension (Acts 7:56). During the church age He is trimming the lampstands as the Son of Man (Rev. 1:13). He will sit on the cloud as the Son of Man to reap His harvest at the end of this age (Rev. 14:14-16). He will return as the Son of Man in His second coming (Matt. 26:64). Finally, in eternity He will be the Son of Man as the heavenly ladder bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven forever (John 1:51). Our Lord is divine, yet He has become the Son of Man. He is solid and strong in His humanity. He defeated Satan as a man (Heb. 2:14). God would not lower His rank to defeat Satan directly. Thus, He became the Son of Man in humanity, in the rank of a creature, to defeat another rebellious creature, Satan.

After the Lord's long discourse in John 14 through 16, which was His last speaking on earth, He had a concluding prayer in chapter seventeen. Chapters twelve through seventeen are on Christ's death unto glorification. He is the grain of wheat who needed to die (John 12:24). For Him to die was not bad but glorious, because His death as the grain of wheat was unto glorification in His resurrection. In verse 23 of John 12 He said, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified." Then in John 17 He prayed, "Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You" (v. 1). Death is unto resurrection, and resurrection means glorification. When Christ is resurrected, that means He is glorified. This is the issue of His death. If Christ had remained living, He could never have been glorified. He needed to go through the death which issued in His resurrection, that is, in His glorification.